Carnival of space #435

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Monday, December 7, 2015

Carnival of space #435

Hello and and welcome to Carnival-of-Space #435. If you are from North America maybe you saw (or still able to see ) the Venus daytime occultation today (7-Dec-2015). I am from Israel and the occultation is long after the moon sets. Here is a photo from this morning they are so close and getting closer by the hour! Venus is at the bottom left. the photo was taken with a smartphone camera (LG G4). Indeed anyone can take such a photo so go and try (Just make sure that the sun is blocked from your view)!

The moon and Venus (bottom left) 7-Dec-2015

Here is also my video from 2007. Also, get ready for the Gemenid meteor shower next week. Plan ahead for either Saturday, Sunday or Monday night according to your location and enjoy.

And holidays are taking place. The Jewish world is celebrating Hanukkah and others are getting ready for Christmas and new year. Here is the traditional Menorah with Venus and Jupiter as candles. Happy holidays to you all, regardless of your faith and beliefs, may your life be filled with light and happiness!!!

Whats in CoS this week?

From Planetaria:

Drones on Mars? small ‘helicopter-like’ scout could be added to Mars 2020 rover mission.

From EverydaySpacer

The Year in Space 2016 looks like a great Calendar. Steve Cariddi has done it again! In cooperation with The Planetary Society, read about the next great Wall Calendar that's more like a changing poster. More beautiful pictures, bio and historical facts will entertain you for another 12 months!

"NASA’s Solar Probe Plus mission — which will fly closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has before — reached a major milestone last month when it successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR).

And an interesting fresh photo of Earth and moon from Japanese mission Hayabusa 2 from last week taken 3 million KM from Earth toward an Earth flyby in the way to its destination. I like "Earth from space photos" and collected many of them to this article in the link mentioned. That's all for this week.